Nike Air Jordan 1 High Zoom Comfort Tropical Twist
The Air Jordan 1 is the sneaker that started it all, marking the beginning of the most iconic lineage of sneakers in history. In many ways, it's responsible for launching modern-day sneaker culture as a whole—and it almost didn't happen.
History of Air Jordan 1
As the story goes, the year was 1984, and Chicago Bulls' rookie Michael Jordan was a hot commodity for endorsement deals, with sneakers naturally being paramount.
Jordan had just come off a stellar college basketball season at the University of North Carolina. He wore Converse and was a personal fan of Adidas, so he took meetings with both companies, but they never reached a deal. It seems strange today, but at the time, Michael Jordan hated Nike—so much so that he refused to take a meeting with them.
He was persuaded by his mother, Deloris Jordan, to visit the Nike campus in Oregon and listen to their pitch. His plan was to go through the motions to appease his parents and agent but he ultimately left with a contract unlike any other.
Rather than walking in the shadows of established athletes like Magic Johnson and Larry Bird (which may have been the case had he signed elsewhere), Michael Jordan shone in the Nike limelight. He was paid more than any other athlete with a sneaker endorsement at the time. Nike made him the face of its growing presence in basketball, and gave him his own sneaker line—called Air Jordan.
Jordan 1 High Zoom Comfort Tropical Twist 2021
First released on March 28, 2021, the Nike Air Jordan 1 Tropical Twist colorway features a mix of tropical colors. The sneaker has a perforated toe vamp to help with air circulation, which keeps the feet cool. The dark purple leather on this colorway is outlined sharply with lighter-colored triple stitching that pops with high contrast. Sharply outlined against the white leather, the Swoosh is slightly sunk into the shoe. The darker elements of the sneaker look black in some photos and purple in others. It really depends on the viewing angle. The shoes are lace-up with thick white laces against dark purple eyestays.
